Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love
is the theatrical film adaptation of the ''Kamen Rider Kabuto TV series directed by Hidenori Ishida and written by Shōji Yonemura. This movie takes place in an alternate universe where its storyline could be considered a prequel to the events of the TV series. In this reality, the impact of the first meteor evaporated all of Earth's oceans and plunged the Earth into chaos. Seven years after the meteor hit Earth, ZECT plans to use a passing comet to refill the Earth's oceans, unaware that their plan will cause another meteor to crash on Earth, one large enough to destroy the world. The film was produced by Ishinomori Productions and Toei, the producers of all the previous television series and films in the Kamen Rider franchise. Following the tradition of all Heisei Kamen Rider movies, it is a double bill with 2006's Super Sentai movie, . Upon its release, the movie was the second highest selling family movie of the week coming in at 4th place.Box Office Mojo's Japanese box office returns for the weekend of August 5-6, 2006 A Director's Cut version of the movie was released in May of 2007. The theme song of the movie is "One World" and is performed by Koji Kikkawa. Synopsis In 1999, an enormous meteor crashed onto Earth carrying extraterrestrial creatures known as Worm within it. These creatures took on the identities of real humans and then killed them. In order to counter this new threat, ZECT was formed, who in turn created the Masked Rider System to combat the Worms. The battles lasts over seven years, depleting Earth's resources and turning it into a barren wasteland. By present time, power struggles in ZECT have caused a new group, known as Neo-ZECT, to be created by Hidenori Oda. Daisuke Kazama and Shura Hokuto are also part of Neo-ZECT. With three groups in existence (Neo-ZECT, ZECT and the Worms), Souji Tendou has decided to sell his power to either Neo-ZECT or ZECT, but his intentions are unclear. At the same time, ZECT has obtained intelligence about a large comet orbiting the vicinity of space. By building the Jacob's Ladder space station, they plan to capture this meteor and spread its water throughout Earth, replenishing the Earth’s oceans. The space station includes a function that works in conjunction with the Rider System's Clock Up function. Tendou joins Neo-ZECT after telling ZECT that he attempts to disband it from the inside and manipulates ZECT and Neo-ZECT against each other. When Neo-ZECT's plan to take over the space station is initiated, both groups’ true colors come to light. Tendou proceeds to enter the space station for his true motive on helping both sides was to foil ZECT's secret plan. Meanwhile, Daisuke has been killed at the hands of Shura who has betrayed Neo-ZECT. Oda attempts to fight off this trap, and he is able to kill Yaguruma. Chasing after Shura however, he meets ZECT's legendary Rider, Caucasus, and is defeated in a matter of seconds. Kagami has also decided to marry Hiyori and they hope to build a future together. Kagami is then chosen to activate the space station's Clock Up function and must leave, but he promises Hiyori he will come back. Tendou has arrived on Jacob's Ladder first however, and he attempts to foil ZECT's hidden motive. After fighting Ketaros, they both fall off the space station due to the Clock Up function pulling through another meteor infested with Worms. Kabuto is able to survive thanks to the Kabuto Extender, but Ketaros dies upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Tendou and Kagami receive news however, that Hiyori is on the point of dying due to the exposure to the meteor dust years ago and it is then that Tendou reveals he is Hiyori's brother. Holding the wedding ceremony in a hospital, Hiyori dies soon afterwards. At this point, Shura tells Tendou that ZECT has betrayed them and is allied with the Worms. ZECT plans to let the meteor crash onto Earth so that the Worms will conquer humanity. However, it seems that Caucasus and the leaders of ZECT are the only ones who know of this plan and attempted to silence her for overhearing their plans. Shura then dies from the wounds inflicted on her as Tendou and Kagami take it on as their mission to save humanity from this disaster. Making it to the space shuttle in time, they meet Caucasus, who explains to them that the meteor is the medium to transfer Worms. The missiles within the shuttle will be used to destroy weak humans. Humanity will be taken over by the Worms because Caucasus believes he will protect and fight for the strongest and most beautiful, the belief of the rose. The majority of the battle is in Caucasus' favor; however when Caucasus activates Maximum Rider Power and prepares to kill Tendou with a Rider Kick, Kagami steps in the way and protects Tendou. Tendou is then able to use this time to steal the Hyper Zecter from Caucasus, forcing him into an ejection chamber and launching him into space. Tendou then puts Kagami back in an escape pod and sends him on his way back to Earth. However, Caucasus, while in the void of space, latches on to Kagami's escape pod and punches a hole into the window, killing Kagami. At the same time, Tendou becomes Hyper Kabuto and through the use of Hyper Clock Up, he reverses time to save Kagami and destroy Caucasus, blowing him up along with the missiles in the space shuttle. Tendou then uses the Hyper Zecter's Hyper Clock Up to send the second meteor back in time and force it to crash into the first meteor. The result is a small fragment that only hits Shibuya, minimizing the damage and erasing the future in which the Earth's oceans are dried up. However, the shockwave caused by the two meteors crashing hits Tendou and sends him flying backwards towards Earth. Afterwards, Tendou lands in Shibuya and finds himself in the same situation he was in seven years ago. This time however, he gives his belt to the younger Tendou who is then able to save Hiyori. With the disastrous future erased, Tendou disappears as his youngest self grows up and lives a better life in the new timeline. Continuity and Placement This film in itself is an alternate-universe of the main Kabuto universe; however its impact does appear to affect the main universe in its climax, where the meteor sent to strike Earth in this world instead is sent seven years in the past and leads to it becoming the meteor that destroys Shibuya in the prologue of the main universe; therefore, this film, despite having elements that include the first appearance of Hyper Kabuto, technically occurs prior to the series with the explanation of the Shibuya meteor. However many elements in this film do not match with aspects that are revealed later in the main universe, primarily regarding Hiyori Kusakabe, her relation to Souji Tendou and what really happened not just on the day of the meteor strike but some time before the meteor due to a different nature to the Worms on Earth in the main universe. Characters Kamen Riders Allies *Hiyori Kusakabe *Yumiko Takemiya ZECT *Shuichi Tadokoro *Masato Mishima *Riku Kagami *Yuzuki Misaki Neo-ZECT *Shura Hokuto Worms *Next-Worms Cast * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : Suit actors * Kamen Rider Kabuto: * Kamen Rider Gatack, Kamen Rider TheBee: * Kamen Rider Sasword, Kamen Rider TheBee: * Kamen Rider Drake: * Kamen Rider Caucasus: * Kamen Rider Hercus: * Kamen Rider Ketaros: Forms Used *Kabuto - Masked Form, Rider Form, Hyper Form *TheBee - Masked Form, Rider Form *Drake - Masked Form, Rider Form *Sasword - Masked Form, Rider Form *Gatack - Masked Form, Rider Form Songs ; Theme song * "ONE WORLD" ** Lyrics: Koji Kikkawa ** Composition: Hiroaki Sugawara ** Arrangement: Neko Saitō ** Artist: Koji Kikkawa Differences from the TV series *The meteorite that strikes the Earth in 1999 is much larger than the meteorite from the TV series and destroys all the oceans and cities, not just Shibuya. *The meteorite carries a species of Worm that appear to be similar to the "Natives" of the TV series, which is likely and sensible if we would consider the movie as a prequel to the series. *Yaguruma is TheBee in the movie and the Shadow ZECT Troopers don't appear at all; his squad composes of normal ZECT Troopers. *Kageyama, Tsurugi, Jiyya and Gon do not appear. Juka makes a short appearance near the end of the movie. The opening summary features a brief battle involving Sasword, but Tsurugi is never seen. *Kagami and Hiyori are now married, but Hiyori dies after contracting a disease given to her by the dust from the meteor seven years ago. *In 1999, Tendou receives his belt from his older self, while in the series, it was given to him by a Native. Notes *This movie features the first appearance of Kabuto's Hyper Form, which would debut on the series a week later in episode 28 and an in-series transformation in episode 34. **This is the last summer film having the final form debut before the series. *When Kabuto becomes Hyper Form in this movie, the armor started to expose before he could use "Hyper Clock Up". *This is the first summer film to be not written by Toshiki Inoue. External Links *Trailer at the Toei Movie Youtube Channel (Japanese) References Category:Kamen Rider Movies Category:Kamen Rider Kabuto Category:Summer Movies